cl40, Author at Princeton Insights

July 5, 2022July 5, 2022

The Termite Wars: How tiny insect engineers shape the African savanna

Review written by Jarome Ali (EEB, G5)

On the savannas of Kenya, a battle has been waged for centuries. The landscape hints at how this battle has shaped the entire ecosystem, but it must be viewed from far above. From just a few meters above ground level, the telltale signs are still invisible. However, from the vantage point offered by drone photography or satellite imagery, a clear pattern emerges. Patches of vegetation are spotted across the savanna, in a regular hexagonal layout. This kind of order in the natural world fascinates biologists and begs for an explanation. Researchers at Princeton have been investigating how warring termite colonies (or insect colonies in general), and the underlying resource distribution can drive the emergence of order in the savanna landscape.

April 7, 2022April 7, 2022

Bacteria in the human microbiome can inactivate the antidiabetic drug acarbose

Review written by Abigail Stanton (MOL, G2)

Even in the microscopic world, survival of the fittest can make for relentless, and creative, competition. With a limited amount of resources to go around, some bacteria will play dirty to make sure they get their fair share. Actinoplanes sp. SE50/110, a bacterium that lives in the soil, has developed a strategy to fight off competitors: by producing a specialized sugar called acarbose, it can block proteins responsible for sugar uptake and metabolism in its microbial neighbors. This inhibits the growth of other bacteria, leaving more food for Actinoplanes to enjoy.

April 6, 2022January 6, 2023

What can vocal marmosets tell us about human development? With Thiago Tarraf Varella

In this episode of The Highlights, show host and third-year graduate student in psychology Thiago Tarraf Varella discusses his research on pre linguistic vocal learning in marmosets, and what this can tell us about human vocal development.

This episode of The Highlights was produced under the 145th Managing Board of The Daily Princetonian in partnership with Princeton Insights. Thiago Tarraf Varella is a graduate student in Department of Psychology at Princeton and can be reached at tvarella@princeton.edu.

To view the transcript for this episode, click “More Info” and then “Full Transcript” in the episode player.

RESOURCES:

Princeton Insights coverage: What other species can teach us about how infants learn to speak

Original Paper: Cooperative care and the evolution of the prelinguistic vocal learning

CREDITS

Written and hosted by Thiago Tarraf Varella GS and Senna Aldoubosh

Edited and sound engineered by Sophia Villacorta and Isabel Rodrigues

Produced by Isabel Rodrigues

Original Princeton Insights coverage by Sarah McFann GS

Subscribe to The Highlights on Spotify, Podcast Addict, or wherever you get your podcasts! And subscribe to the Daily Princetonian to get the latest news at Princeton!

March 17, 2022March 16, 2022

Proton Outflow Associated With Jupiter’s Auroral Processes

Review written by Cecilia Panfil (CHM, 2022) and Alexandra Libby (PNI, GS)

Abstract

Despite Jupiter’s aurora being the brightest in the solar system, the mechanism of its occurrence is not well understood. One peculiar phenomenon on Jupiter is the large quantities of protons in its magnetosphere. Recently, Dr. Jamey Szalay and his team were able to use data from the Juno spaceship to observe the protons flying away from Jupiter. This provides evidence that the protons are coming from Jupiter itself. The electric fields which drive protons away from Jupiter are likely intimately related to Jupiter’s auroral fields. With their novel observation, Szalay et al. provide a clue towards Jupiter’s complex auroral interactions.

January 27, 2022January 27, 2022

Exploring the tradeoff between privacy and algorithm performance

Review written by Andy Jones (COS, G3)

In many countries, cameras are nearly ubiquitous in public society. When you go to public places — such as stoplights, stores, or hospitals — a photograph is often taken of you.

When these photographs are collected into large datasets, they can be useful for developing machine learning (ML) solutions to real-world problems. For example, automated analysis of stoplight photographs could improve traffic flow, and examining customer behavior patterns in clothing stores could improve the shopping experience. However, a large fraction of these photographs contain personal identifying information, such as faces, addresses, or credit card numbers. These photos prompt concerns about the privacy of the individuals identified in them. Thus, at first glance there appears to be a tradeoff between using large datasets of images to train ML algorithms and protecting people’s privacy. But what if the people in these images could somehow be anonymized to protect their privacy, while the images could still be used to build useful ML models?

January 21, 2022January 21, 2022

AAV: Versatile Viral Hero or Neurotoxic Villain?

Review written by Amy Ciceu (NEU, 2024)

Adeno-associated viruses (AAVs) are some of the most widely used recombinant viral technologies—those that combine different genes to produce unique viral vectors, or tools that convey genetic material into cells—in modern neuroscience. Because they are incapable of being replicated within cells, recombinant AAVs are commonly used in neuroscience research as a means of expressing genes in specific cells. By expressing genes that heighten or dampen the function of certain cells, researchers are able to identify the functions of particular neural circuits.¹ This approach can provide scientists with insight into the mechanisms underlying neurobiological processes. To make such circuit-related discoveries, AAVs are typically injected into certain brain regions of animal subjects. After an incubation period, some AAVs encoding fluorescent tracers can induce cells to fluoresce under specialized microscopes, enabling scientists to visualize particular neural circuitry. Furthermore, AAVs have demonstrated clinical potential; for example, AAVs have been used to replenish certain proteins in the treatment of diseases like congenital blindness ^{2, 3} and spinal muscular atrophy.^{4, 5} AAV is also currently being investigated as a potential means of treating other brain disorders, including Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), and more.⁶

January 14, 2022January 14, 2022

What other species can teach us about how infants learn to speak

Review written by Sarah McFann (CBE, G6)

One thing that sets humans apart from our closest evolutionary relatives, Old World apes and monkeys, is that much of human brain development occurs outside the womb. This means that, relative to our evolutionary neighbors, humans are born altricial—a term describing animals that are born helpless and dependent upon parental care. Because our immature brains are presented with real-world stimuli as they develop, humans have the chance to be molded by external cues like language.

December 16, 2021December 16, 2021

Topology helps slime bacteria form fruiting bodies

Review written by Qiwei Yu (G1, QCB)

Nature never ceases to amaze us, particularly when it comes to how biological organisms develop sophisticated and diverse strategies to survive dynamic and oftentimes hostile environments. Myxobacteria (also known as “slime bacteria”), for example, have evolved a specialized life cycle to cope with the possibility of unreliable nutrient supply. While nutrient abundance enables the bacteria to grow and proliferate, nutrient scarcity can conversely trigger a transition to a more dormant state. In response to nutrient depletion, myxobacteria cells can aggregate into fruiting bodies, three-dimensional multicellular structures of diverse colors and shapes. A subset of the cells within the fruiting bodies develop into rounded myxospores with thick cell walls, waiting for a more favorable environment to resume growth. It is truly amazing how the behavior of a large number of cells can be coordinated to achieve the rapid and dynamic process of fruiting body formation.

December 9, 2021December 9, 2021

Viability of planting more trees for mitigating climate change

Review written by Kimberly Sabsay (G2, QCB)

Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas, which absorbs and radiates heat. It is estimated to be responsible for about two-thirds of the total energy imbalance which is driving our increasingly urgent global climate crisis. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, this past year, we reached a new all-time-high of atmospheric carbon dioxide: an astounding 412.5 parts per million (ppm). This is higher than any other time in the past 800,000 years.

December 2, 2021January 6, 2023

Futuristic nostalgia with Yeon Soon Shin and Rolando Masís-Obando

In this episode of The Highlights, we’re joined by Yeon Soon Shin, who completed her doctoral degree in neuroscience at Princeton in 2020 and Rolando Masís-Obando, a 5th-year graduate student in neuroscience. We discuss their paths to graduate work in psychology, their research on how environmental context affects memory, and the virtual reality environments they created to test their ideas.

This episode of The Highlights was produced under the 145th Managing Board of The Daily Princetonian in partnership with Princeton Insights. Rolando Masís-Obando is a graduate student in the Princeton Computational Memory Lab and can be reached at rmasis@princeton.edu. Yeon Soon Shin is currently a postdoctoral research associate at Yale University and can be reached at yshin@princeton.edu.

To view the transcript for this episode, click “More Info” and then “Full Transcript” in the episode player.

RESOURCES:

Princeton Insights coverage: Using virtual reality to demonstrate the environmental reinstatement effect

Original Paper: Context-dependent memory effects in two immersive virtual reality environments: On Mars and underwater

CREDITS

Written and hosted by Thiago Tarraf Varella GS and Paula Brooks GS

Edited and sound engineered by Sophia Villacorta and Isabel Rodrigues

Produced by Isabel Rodrigues

Original Princeton Insights coverage by Paula Brooks GS

Subscribe to The Highlights on Spotify, Podcast Addict, or wherever you get your podcasts! And subscribe to the Daily Princetonian to get the latest news at Princeton!